We discover old neighbors
by Shoemii
Summary: Sadie gets a call from Carter, telling her to meet her at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in Manhattan, stating that he has something to tell her.


I waited in the Sub Station until the train came.

I had just arrived to Brooklyn House las night, when I received a strange message from Carter, telling me to meet him at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in Manhattan, which was weird because of two reasons: Carter was supposed to be in the First Nome under Cairo, and it is very known that magicians try to avoid going to Manhattan. I had just been there one, and wasn´t a very pleasant memory.

But Carter had sounded serious on the message, and he refused to say anything before the meeting at the museum. I spent almost an hour of my life trying to make him say one bloody thing, but all I got was something about a research he had been doing.

I´ve got to admit, that Carter had been kind of quiet the last months, and would barely speak of anything. And also, he would order to do strange things, like to search for documents that no one had touched in centuries, and that according to Amos, had been checked by so much scribes among history, that the priests doubted there could be extracted anything useful from them.

But Carter just won't listen, and he won´t tell anyone what he was up to, not even me, which was the most frustrating of all this.

I had tried to talk some reason into him, even went down to the Duat and talked to mum and dad –hoping that, if I didn´t convince him, they would, or that at least they knew something about this sudden madness– but they knew nothing, and only told me to trust my brother.

It wasn´t that I didn´t trust Carter –my gods, then I better be preparing my coffin– but all this sudden behavior, and the lack of communication, I almost feared he was possessed by Set, but the evil god was at bay, just like he promised.

Leaving out last night´s call, my brother had just called twice in the past months, and in both occasions he asked the same thing: 'What happened in the Roman tomb at Bahariya?'

Although I explained every single detail he asked for, he wouldn't say his reasons. I didn't understand anything and it didn´t help Carter´s reluctance to share information, Was he searching for something about Ancient Egypt? It didn't look like it, but even so, I couldn´t think of other reason.

And then there was the call, it was the first in weeks, and well, he didn´t sound right. I mean, he sounded triumphant, but also nervous and fearful, like if he had remembered something he had forgotten, but as if that meant trouble or danger. And this was bad news, because Carter was usually good at hiding his fear.

I plugged in my earphones and hit play, trying to clear my mind, whatever had happened –good or bad– I would know soon, and it was probably nothing, there was no reason to get anxious for something that hasn´t happened yet.

Music was still running through my ears when the train arrived. It wasn´t a half second after the doors opened when the multitude of people waiting started shuffling in.

I struggled my way past all the people, truing to get in. I had opened a portal this morning from the mansion, but the museum was still at a good distance from the nearest opening, so I decided to take the subterranean.

When I finally got in, it took me some time before finding a spot. I caught sight of a place in one of the holding tubes, since it was very improbable that I would find a seat, I rushed to it before someone else could take it.

Sitting in front of me were a guy and a girl that couldn´t have been much older than me. The girl was asleep, her head reposing against the train´s wall, her arms crossed on her lap. She had curly red hair and a freckled face; she was dressed in a t-shirt and jeans with paint splatters.

I looked around, the sub was full, but if she didn´t wake up, there will be a point when it´ll be just her and a few people, and well, New York could be a nice city, but it was also full of robbers.

I cast a worried glance at the girl again, wondering if I should wake her, when I heard a voice saying:

"She´s with me, you shouldn't worry about her."

I looked around, and found I had noticed before staring back at me, he should have noticed me looking worriedly at the girl or something. It seemed strange that I hadn´t put much attention to him before, but I attributed it to the fact that I had been worried about the girl.

I had some trouble trying to focus him, like when you try to see through a glamour, and for a moment I wondered if he was another magician, and started to worry again about the girl again, but then again, if he was a magician, he wouldn´t be in Manhattan at all.

I started to calm down. I´ll discuss it with Carter later, after all, he owed me more than one explanation.

"Oh," I said, finally focusing him. He was black-haired, and although he was young, I noticed a gray lock of hair; his eyes were sea-green, like if you were looking at the surface of a deep ocean.

"Are you from Brooklyn?" he asked.

"No, but had lived there for a long time, so in some way, is like my home," which was true, ever since I had arrived to Brooklyn house, it had felt like I was building my own family, one that wasn´t, you know, dead or crazy, or possessed by evil spirits or something of the like.

He nodded, like if he understood. It was weird but I felt like if he really understood, and that it wasn´t just a polite nod, like if he hadn´t nodded if he didn´t mean to.

The train came to a stop and I watched as people shuffled out, I saw a gentleman exiting the train at the other side of the wall. I took the seat without hesitation, there were left a couple of stops before we arrived at the museum.

I plugged in my earphones again and hit play, waiting for the sub to start off again as I watched more people entering.

When it started off again, a few people standing up stumbled as it gained speed.

We made two more stops, at the third, I saw the guy with the gray lock of hair waking up his friend, and then both getting out.

It started again and finally arrived to my stop. I took off my earphones and gout out before a tumult could form on the door.

The station was full of people waiting for a train or rushing around to get on time at their next appointment; some younger guys stood dancing or playing music and asking for charity, and every now and then someone will throw a quarter or a dollar at a hat or a jar on the floor.

I got to the exit fastly, the street was full of cabs and people walking on the sidewalk, large buildings lined the avenue, but the museum was not to be seen, if I was right, the museum shouldn´t be so far from where I stood.

I past the street, trying not to be bumped by the passing people, I couldn´t believe that the Egyptians thought the west was equal to death, if I had to choose the living side in New York, I would choose Manhattan.

I kept walking until it came on view: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, it was a large, white building with huge columns and big banners, the columns reminded me of some of the Ancient Greek buildings.

The museum was nearly empty, but there was still some people –some tourists taking pictures, and classroom groups in school excursions. I looked at the map given at the entrance and looked for the Roman wing. Last night, Carter told me to meet him there.

I passed the Egyptian wing with a bit of amusement, when you´re a magician, the demons and monsters didn´t appear so fascinating –you know is very probable you´ll be facing one soon. As I walked passed it, I saddened a bit when I caught sight of a papyrus showing a man standing in a hall separated from another man with blue skin by a set of scales.

I suppressed a sigh and kept walking.

The Roman wing was a bit smaller than the Egyptian, there were glass showcases exposing vases and statuettes, others exposed some swords and shields, in one exhibit was what I supposed was a Roman Armor. Most of the gallery was composed by statues of men. Finally, I got to one exhibit where there was the statue of a she-wolf, two babies breast-feeding from her.

And in front of the statue, staring intently at it was Carter.

My brother was dressed in a white shirt, jeans and sneakers, his hair was braided, jewels intertwined at its tips.

I walked toward him without hesitation, as much as I hate to admit it, I couldn´t control my nervousness. All this months I had been mad at my brother, but I was truly hiding my worry for him. It didn´t matter Carter could be stupid sometimes, we were still siblings, he was the last family I had, and I didn´t want to lose him too.

"Hey," I said.

"Hey," he answered, without taking off his eyes from the statue.

"So what is so important that you have to tell me in person?" I asked.

"Look at this," he said; pointing at the statue he was looking at, "do you know what it is?"

I don´t know if my bewilderment in that moment could be measured by methods known by men.

"No Carter, and frankly I don´t care so–"

"It´s Lupa," he interrupted, "she was mentor to Romulus and Remus, founders of Rome. The king of Rome before them killed his brother in order to rule the Empire, but he had a niece left, and if she had any children, then he´ll lose his throne, so he shunned her away of any men, saying she was unable to conceive."

I knew him wasn´t going to let go, so I said: "But?"

"But Mars –god of war and patron of Rome– got her pregnant, and she had two kids: Romulus and Remus. However, she knew her uncle would want to kill the children, so she put them on a basket and set it on the Tiber, where they were found by Lupa. She breast-fed them, and when they grew up, they defeated their grand-uncle.

"Terrific, so the twins ruled Rome–"

"Actually, Romulus did, he killed Remus so he alone would be king, and that´s from where the name Rome comes from, Romulus renamed the Empire so it will match his name."

There was a silence there.

"So?" Carter asked.

"So what?" I asked.

"So tell me something! Tell me the kind of things you would say! That this isn´t important, or is not real, that are just stories, that it doesn´t exists such a thing like Lupa, or Mars–"

"Whoa Carter, calm down," I said, looking around to make sure no one was looking or hearing us. "What is it, what did you discovered? Is it bad?"

"I don´t know if it's bad or if it's good, just that is real," he answered.

He looked me seriously, and it shocked me, because it made me see how much he was becoming like dad.

"Do you remember what Amos told us when we arrived at Brooklyn?" he asked.

I had to rack at the back of my mind to remember. "Something about other gods," I finally answered.

"And what do the ghost told you about the tombs at Bahariya?" he asked.

This one was easier to remember.

"He started to talk about how a bad work the Egyptians had done with their burials, and that now they couldn´t go to Pluto´s realm."

"Exactly! Pluto´s realm! Pluto, the Roman god of death!"

But Carter, those are just stories, those gods, don´t really exist," I said.

"So? A couple of years ago, Egyptians gods and magic were stories too, and now you are Eye of Isis and I am Eye of Horus."

"All right, let´s say that you are right, and the Roman gods are real too. That means Amos knew it too, so why he didn´t speak of it before?"

"Because that wasn´t Amos," Carter said, "Remember? By that time Amos was possessed by Set."

I tried to think of something. I tried to laugh, or say anything to convince Carter that this time he was wrong, that what he was suggesting was ridiculous, it just couldn´t be. Roman gods! That was insane!

But still…

He was right in some things: Amos did mention the 'other gods' thing. And that would explain why magicians try to avoid Manhattan too.

I looked at Carter, maybe we were both going mad, maybe we were imagining things, but then again, everything I thought was pure imagination in the last years has proved to be real.

My brother looked at me intently, like hoping I wouldn´t think he had gone insane.

Finally I nodded, "I believe you," I finally said.

Carter sighed in relief. "Thanks," he said.

"You told someone else any of this?"

Carter nodded, "Amos, and some of the priests."

"What did they think?" I asked.

"Amos believed me, some of the priests are doubtful, most of them didn´t believe me."

_So predictable, _I thought. Some rulers, I realized, preferred to ignore their problems rather than affront them.

"They´ll come to believe you," I said, then hesitated for a moment and added, "They always do."

Carter nodded, a tiny smile touching his lips.

"Let me invite you to lunch then," he said, "And then I´ll explain the rest."


End file.
